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Old School Alliance
The Old School Alliance was an alliance formed in Survivor: The Gambia by Simon. The alliance was designed to include three members from each original tribe, bringing in "old school" players from Tengaged Group Games (typically a name given to those who debuted in 2010-2012). The alliance is noted as being one of the hosts favourites, bringing together the best and most interesting characters from the season. Alliance History The alliance formed after preliminary talks occurred between Diego, Simon and Vanessa, wanting to bring together players who had known each other from playing group games in the "old school era" of 2010-2012. This led to the inclusion of old school players Eoin and Snake, as well as Harry (who technically is not "old school", but was seen as a fitting member of the alliance nonetheless. After being officially brought together by Simon, the alliance agreed to start picking off those outside the group, starting with Qaz, who the Old School Alliance found both a potential threat and somewhat annoying. The alliance pulled of the blindside, eliminating Qaz in a 7-2-1 vote. After their success, the alliance managed another round of control, this time eliminating outsider James, with his unused idol leaving with him. Despite their control, the alliance's big personalities and egos quickly proved to be a problem in keeping unity, initially shown with Vanessa's distrust towards Snake. This led Vanessa to attempt to turn the alliance on Snake, threatening her place in the alliance in the process. The events became infamously known as 'Addgate' after someone accidentally re-added Snake to a chat in which the alliance had discussed voting him out, creating further mistrust in the group. At the following tribal council, the group began to turn on itself, realising that those left outside the alliance were no longer threats. Firstly, Harry's cockiness and more aggressive gameplay led the entire group to turn on him, blindsiding him on Day 27 in a 4-2-1-1 vote. Next, Vanessa found her earlier renege from the alliance would come back to haunt her, when the group deemed her untrustworthy and unpredictable, eliminating her in a 4-1-1 vote (with Vanessa trying to eliminate alliance member Diego). With two members of the alliance taken out in succession, Diego and Simon began to look at one another as the two legitimate threats left in the game, knowing that they would need to make the first move before the other could do so. Diego managed to rally old tribe member Romeo to his side, also hoping to recruit Eoin and Sparticus. However, the plan proved to be in vain, with both Sparticus and Eoin ratting Diego out to Simon, allowing Simon to play his idol and void all votes that came his way, ousting Diego from the game. Eoin, Simon and Snake managed to stay loyal to one another at the following tribal council, removing Sparticus from the game in a 3-2 vote. Snake then hoped that this result proved that Romeo would be the next to go, or that if Simon was to lose immunity the others would target him for being the biggest threat. However, Simon continued to win individual immunity challenges, and led the charge against Snake on Day 37, viewing him as the most deserving of 'three undeserving finalists' (with the other two being Eoin and Romeo). After Simon won the final immunity challenge on Day 38, he opted to stay loyal to Eoin despite knowing that his alliance member would not have done the same, voting outcast Romeo to leave the game. At the final tribal council, Simon was both hailed and somewhat criticised for his aggressive but well controlled gameplay, with a majority of the jury openly admitting that they would vote for him to win the game (namely ex-alliance members Diego, Harry and Vanessa). Alternatively, Eoin was greatly criticised for his lacklustre game and lack of activity in comparison to Simon, with Diego in particular wanting to encourage the rest of the jury not to vote bitterly (for Eoin), and instead to reward the superior player in Simon. Members Diego (Former) Eoin Harry (Former) Simon Snake (Former) Vanessa (Reneged) Trivia * Although BENLINUS has named the Old School Alliance as being one of his favourites, he criticised its members for essentially taking one another out and allowing Simon to win the game despite his obvious threat status. Nevertheless, Simon remains one of the hosts highest rated Sole Survivors from seasons past.